Coromandel Life Magaizine 2017 Winter

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If you have read or heard the slogan “The
Coromandel. Good for the Soul” , then
you have been touched by the efforts of
Destination Coromandel (DC), the Regional
Tourism Organisation for our area, which
includes the Coromandel Peninsula and the
Hauraki Plains.
This ‘visitors bureau’ division is in charge of
attracting visitors to our spectacular peninsula
and this dedicated team take their mandate
very seriously.
And what better way to showcase and promote
our stunning locations and assets than through
a series of short, high quality video clips. This
newest initiative, ‘Search and Explore’, presents
featured locations in a new, topographical way,
from soaring birds eye views to high action
close-ups!
Hadley Dryden is responsible for leading
the marketing organisation. We talked with
him about the current level of tourism in The
Coromandel and in particular, the impact of the
Search and Explore video series.
TELL US ABOUT ‘SEARCH AND EXPLORE’
Basically it’s providing a visual map intended to
both inspire people to visit as well as help them
plan their activities.
After a bumper summer season we kicked off
our ‘Search and Explore’ video series to help
grow travel into March and April. We rate these
months as the best time to visit and refer to it as
The Coromandel’s ‘endless summer’.
The series kicked off in Coromandel Town and
featured the remaining towns along the west
coast of The Coromandel. It now includes
Thames, Paeroa, the Hauraki Plains and Seabird
Coast, and Waihi. Towns along the Pacific Coast
will be released soon, starting with Whangamata.
The real talent behind the footage is the
experiences that can be discovered in the
coastline and landscape of our beautiful region.
Even long time residents will be inspired to
explore their own backyard.
The video campaign is obvious if you search
The series is
introduced on the homepage, with a link to the
‘Search and Explore’ campaign in the text.
HOW WERE THE VIDEOS CREATED?
We developed the concept in house, and then
contracted talented local cinematographers,
James Muir and Pete May, to shoot and edit the
series, encouraging creative licence to improve
the scenes and transitions.
James is already well known for his stellar work
locally and is currently working on a Kauri doco,
inspired by a short film that came out of one of
his student mentoring workshops.
Pete May is one of New Zealand’s best drone
pilots. His footage is unreal and shows The
Coromandel from a perspective that does our
outstanding landscapes justice. Hopefully this
will lead to more local work for both of them –
we’ll definitely work with them again. Check out
the footage on and you’ll
understand why.
HOW DID WEATHER AFFECT TOURISM?
Total arrivals (Qrious), commercial guest nights
(CAM) and spend data (MBIE) have all been
monthly records for 2017, with the exception
of March.
The unexpected wet weather in March and early
April caused floods, slips and road closures. Yet
despite the inclement weather, and the fact that
Easter fell in April this year (compared to March
in 2016), March 2017 still recorded the second
highest spend for that month on record.
The weather was a challenge, especially when
promoting an ‘endless summer’. Although
predicted just before Easter weekend, when
Cyclone Cook passed without making landfall
NEW SEARCH & EXPLORE
VIDEO SERIES LAUNCHED
@iamtheflyingkiwi
36º 48’ 02.7” S 175º 18’ 56.3” E
MOTUPOHUKUO ISLAND
Continued on 16
14 COROMANDEL LIFE 2017 LATE AUTUMN / WINTER